WASHINGTON — The third day of confirmation hearings by the Senate
Judiciary Committee for Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump's U.S.
Supreme Court nominee, continued along similar lines of questioning and failed
to spark high drama.

When asked again about his stance on Roe
v. Wade, the 1973 court decision legalizing abortion virtually on
demand, Gorsuch said March 22 he accepts the decision "as the law of the
land."

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, asked Gorsuch how this view
compared to what he wrote in his book "The Future
of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia," where he said the "intentional
taking of human life by private persons is always wrong."

"As the book explains, the Supreme Court of the United
States has held in Roe v. Wade that a fetus is
not a person for purposes of the 14th Amendment, and the book explains
that," Gorsuch answered.

In response to a question from Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
D-California, about assisted suicide, Gorsuch said he agreed with the Supreme
Court's 1990 decision in Cruzan that established the legal right of patients to
refuse medical treatments, including artificial feeding and hydration.

He also said the position he took in his book was that
"anything necessary to alleviate pain would be appropriate and acceptable,
even if it caused death. Not intentionally but knowingly."

"I drew a line between intent and knowingly. And I have been
there. I have been there," he added.

The issues of religious liberty and abortion were briefly raised
during the second day of Senate confirmation hearings.

On the second day of hearings March 21, Gorsuch said that he
wouldn't give his personal views on Roe v. Wade or
any other Supreme Court decision during the hearing and only said the court's
decision in Roe set a precedent that has been reaffirmed by the court. He gave
similar answers on questions about guns and campaign finance.

When he was asked by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, if
Trump asked him to "overrule Roe v. Wade,"
Gorsuch said he hadn't. When pressed further to say what he would have done if
the president asked him that, Gorsuch said he would have "walked out the
door. It's not what judges do."

The nominee was asked by Durbin about his ruling in favor of
Hobby Lobby as a sitting judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th
Circuit, based in Denver. In the ruling, the company was exempt from federal
regulations to provide employees with insurance coverage for forms of birth
control to which the owners objected for religious reasons. The objectionable
contraception included the abortion pill.

Gorsuch said the case was a "tough one," but the court
followed the guidelines of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act passed by
Congress. He said the act didn't define terms of a person and could be
interpreted that corporations have similar religious liberty rights.

He also stressed later in questioning that he views the text of
the law as key and he said he credits his teacher, Sister Mary Rose Margaret —
who taught him to diagram sentences — for that focus.

The first day of Senate confirmation hearings for Gorsuch began
March 20 with a series of introductory remarks from senators establishing what
they hope to ask the nominee and the importance of the role of Supreme Court
justice.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who is chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee, began the day's hearing by praising what he said was
Gorsuch's firm respect of the separation of powers of government. A vote on the
judge's confirmation is set to take place April 3.

The nominee, who currently sits on the 10th Circuit, would fill
the vacant seat on the Supreme Court left by the death of Justice Antonin
Scalia last year. Senate Republican leaders last year chose not to vote on
then-President Barack Obama's nominee for the court, Judge Merrick Garland.

In opening remarks, many of the senators spoke of the importance
of a Supreme Court justice's role, particularly given the length of time a
justice generally has the position — it is a life term. Sen. Patrick Leahy,
D-Vermont, said the "stakes could not be higher" for the job.

Feinstein, the committee's ranking Democrat, and the second to
address the hearing, noted the "very unusual circumstances" of the
Gorsuch hearing since Garland was never granted a similar opportunity.

She highlighted several areas she said she would be interested in
hearing more on from Gorsuch such as his views on abortion and on voting
rights.

She acknowledged the judge had not made decisions on abortion but
said his writings "raise questions" and can be interpreted to mean he
would vote to overturn Roe.

Gorsuch has degrees from Columbia, Harvard and Oxford
universities. He clerked for two Supreme Court justices and also worked for the
Department of Justice. He is an adjunct law professor at the University of
Colorado and he wrote a 2009 book arguing against the legalization of assisted suicide
and euthanasia.

He has strong views on religious liberty having sided with the
Little Sisters of the Poor in their challenge of the contraceptive mandate of
the Affordable Care Act. In Hobby Lobby Stores v. Sebelius, in June 2013, the
10th Circuit ordered the federal government to stop enforcement of the federal
mandate against Hobby Lobby, the Oklahoma-based Christian chain of retail arts
and crafts stores. In his concurrence, Gorsuch said the contraception mandate
substantially burdened the company's exercise of religion exercise — a decision
the Supreme Court later upheld.

Gorsuch, who was raised Catholic and attended Catholic elementary
schools and a Jesuit-run Catholic high school in Maryland, Georgetown
Preparatory School, now attends an Episcopalian church with his family in
Colorado.

A March 20 CNN story with the headline: "What is Neil
Gorsuch's religion? It's complicated," points out that Gorsuch is not a
registered parishioner at the church he attends and on membership forms he
listed his religion as Catholic.

The article also points out that when Gorsuch studied legal
philosophy at England's Oxford University, his dissertation was supervised by
John Finnis, an Australian who was a former member of the Vatican's
International Theological Commission.

Finnis, known for his work in moral, political and legal theory
and constitutional law, is currently a law professor at the University of Notre
Dame Law School. Gorsuch's dissertation became his 2009 book on assisted
suicide and euthanasia.

Currently, five of the justices on the court are Catholic and
three are Jewish. Scalia, who had been one of six Catholic members of the
court, was often described as its most conservative voice and known for his
strict interpretation of the Constitution's intent.

Just as the first day of hearings got underway, 60 national and
state pro-life groups sent a letter to the members of the U.S. Senate calling
for Gorsuch's swift confirmation.

"Judge Gorsuch is widely recognized as a jurist possessed of
deep intelligence and true fairmindedness," the letter said. "In 2006
the U.S. Senate recognized these qualities, confirming Gorsuch without dissent
to his current position on the 10th Circuit. After a decade of constitutionally
sound and clearly written rulings and opinions, Judge Gorsuch deserves once
again the swift approval of the Senate.

The letter was spearheaded by the pro-life organization Susan B.
Anthony List and signed by members of the Pro-life Court Coalition.